This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to an inverter and is particularly although not exclusively concerned with improvements in an inverter adapted for use in the inversion of moulds used in soft mud brick making.
In the manufacture of soft mud bricks, it is conventional to fill a multi-cavity mould with clay at a moulding machine and to discharge the mould cavities by inverting the mould downstream of the moulding machine. Thereafter, the discharged bricks are fed to a drying chamber and subsequently to a conventional kiln or the like for firing and the inverted moulds are recirculated to an input side of the brick moulding machine.
In their passage from a mould discharge locality to the input side of the brick moulding machine, the moulds are cleaned by high pressure water jets and, after partial drying by an air blast or the like, the mould cavities are subjected to a sanding operation whereby the floor and walls of the mould cavities are each provided with a coating of sand.
Before the sanded moulds are fed to the input side of the brick making machine, they are once again inverted so that the cavities thereof are upwardly facing.
In inverting the moulds for effecting the discharge of the soft mud bricks from their cavities, it is advantageous for a certain degree of shock load to be experienced by the mould and its contents because this helps in the release of the "green state" bricks from the moulds.
However, after the mould cavities have been sanded, it is most disadvantageous to subject the moulds to any undue shock loads because the coatings of sand will be lost from the base and side walls of the moulds.
Also, because moulds used in soft mud brick manufacture are generally made of wood, wear is a major problem which may cause difficulties in feed arrangements for transposing the moulds from a downstream side of a moulding machine via an inverter to an input side of the moulding machine.
These difficulties, principally arising from the moulds being of varying sizes, may conveniently be overcome by the use of an inverter provided by the present invention wherein discrepancies in mould sizes are tolerated and transportation of the moulds is effected without undue shock loads thereto.
Many devices have been proposed hitherto for inverting moulds or the like to empty the contents thereof or to orient casks or packages for subsequent operations thereon. Nevertheless, none of the devices known to the applicants hereof are capable of orienting a mould or the like in an exact position for the subsequent operations thereon or for ensuring that such inversion of a mould is effected without undue shock loading thereto. British Specification No. 657576 merely discloses a device for removing loaves of bread from open topped pans in which they are baked and there is no obvious requirement for the loaves to be accurately positioned upon being removed from the pans.
British Specification No. 1213224 and 1254861 each comprise devices for the inversion of kegs or packages and, although each device is comprised of first and second carriers adapted for conveying the kegs or packages through first and second arcuate paths to effect said inversion, there are no means for ensuring the accurate transfer of the kegs or packages between the first and second carriers or for ensuring that the kegs or packages are not subjected to undue shock loads.